The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has refused to revive the claims of Netflix subscribers, challenging a 2005 "Promotion Agreement" between Netflix and Walmart regarding DVD sales and rentals. The complaining subscribers failed to raise

Sears Holding Corp. failed to allege that a grill manufacturer used its patent to gain monopoly power, the federal district court in Chicago determined. Consequently, a reasonable jury could not find that the manufacturer used its patent to dominate

In a joint operation, the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General's office have temporarily shut down two abusive debt collection operations centered in New York that target consumers nationwide. The complaints against 4 Star Re

In an idea modeled on the Sarbanes-Oxley approach to accounting fraud, New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky said the agency is considering making senior executives personally attest to the adequacy and robustness of anti-mone

By Lorene D. Park, J.D.
Because a New York police officer’s complaints about the department’s arrest quota policy did not fall within his official duties and he elected a channel with a civilian analogue (that ordinary citizens use) to pursue his complaint, he spoke as a citizen and his speech was protected by the First Amendment, [...]

By Ronald Miller, J.D.
A reserve deputy’s testimony supporting a former criminal defendant’s mistreatment by federal law enforcement officers was constitutionally protected, and a jury could reasonably find that an employer’s explanations for its actions were pretextual, ruled the Tenth Circuit in reversing, in part, the judgment of a federal district court. However, the appeals court [...]

Regulations establishing appeal procedures for insurers that receive demands from Medicare for reimbursement as primary payers become effective April 28, 2015.The Final rule implements the requirements of the Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpa

The first week of end-to-end testing of the 10th revision of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding has ended successfully, according to an announcement by CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. The test run, during which 660 providers

The deadline for compliance with the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program (meaningful use program) has been extended until 11:59 p.m. ET on March 20, 2015, according to an HHS announcement. This extension comes on the heels of a

According to a recent survey by The Chelko Consulting Group (Chelko), more than 80 percent of employers have reached a decision regarding their interest in private health care Exchanges, and, of those, about 60 percent want to adopt an Exchange-based

Individuals and families who are subject to shared responsibility payments on their 2014 tax returns because they did not have health coverage have an opportunity to obtain coverage for 2015 through a special enrollment period (SEP) from March 15 to

A primary insurer was not required to defend or indemnify its insured where a policy exclusion in its policy negated coverage and an "other insurance" clause rendered the insurer an excess insurer for the underlying claim which was settled within

Wisconsin's notice-prejudice statutes do not supersede the reporting requirement specific to claims-made-and-reported insurance policies, according to that state's highest court. To the contrary, the statutes permit an insurer to deny coverage wi

An equipment manufacturer could not pursue patent exhaustion, patent misuse, and declaratory judgment of patent rights claims against the patentee of HD Radio™ technology for digital radio broadcasting, the federal district court in Chicago has rul

A federal district court did not err in ruling that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had properly calculated the patent term adjustment (PTA) for a Gilead Sciences patent that described compounds and methods of administering drugs to reduce the s

The bipartisan Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act (S. 304) was approved by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee by voice vote on February 26. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered Takata to preserve all air bag inflators removed through the recall process as evidence for both the agency's investigation and for private litigation cases. The order also serves to ensu

A federal judge in Manhattan this week signed off on the terms of the SEC's final judgment against Samuel E. Wyly and the estate of Charles J. Wyly, Jr. in the agency's long-running securities fraud case against the two brothers. Depending upon t

A pair of amicus briefs filed yesterday in the Newman insider trading case urge the Second Circuit panel that limited prosecutions in these cases last December to rebuff the government's effort to have it (or the full appeals court) rethink the o